The13Bats

James...that is just too sweet..yours look better than any being sold right now...


69autoxr,
I have seen a lot of different flares over the 35 plus years I have been into this stuff, some were custom one offs but we won't worry about those right now the ones I wanted to focus on were the ones people can buy at the moment,

Ecklers has the full fender ZL-1's and CIC has a full fender refined L-88.
ACI and a couple others sell the bare L-88 with locating strips and are basically what my L-88's look like except the strip busted off one of mine,

Since TimAT bought his GM L-88's I would to have him chime in if they had locating strips and or deep if any dimples.

In the day race cars cared 2nd about looking good function came first.
I have seen flares on things from SUV's to Panteras with deep meant to be screwed on dimples in fact I see modern cars in traffic that have little caps over the screw heads and all that is factory.

On L-88 flares which ended up on more than just vettes and is likely the most popular as in seen flare one thing to keep in mind is if it's a bare flare then the contour is up to the bodyman, I mean when it's placed on the car the place where it is bonded the contour can change a lot from car to car even side to side if the bodyman isn't savvy,
On a side note a ZL-1 flare could be finessed at the top to look more like an L-88 all in that contour.

An example is I was out at a local cruise "Old Town" and admiring an old school custom c3 with L-88's the owner said wait, look from the back, one flare was contoured way, way different to the other one, from the rear they didn't match. ( he wanted it fixed, one side looked better )

unless we can talk to the original builder who is in the know ( not all are )
We really can't say which car with L-88's has what brand of L-88 because they can change so much in the glassing them in, exceptions being Ecklers did sell a L-88 full fender and CIC still does.

Jamess411

Thanks )
Trying to learn new things with each upgrade.

Richard454

Ummmmm- Brent's car IS a CIC car.... Josh and Brent were neighbors!!!

Here's the flares on mine- they were on the car when I bought in 1980- looks like they were made by Eckler's back in the day. A little milder than the ones here!!!

DSCN4814 by richardhayes454, on Flickr

DSCN4811 by richardhayes454, on Flickr

The13Bats

While I didn't know that Brents red car was a CIC build what I posted stating about Brents build doesn't make sense to me as I re-read myself, ( nothing against the car it's stunning )
I believe I was talking about either mods75 or James cars and got my names are backwards mixed up, I was making the point that I do not find CIC builds any better than several others on here.

My good Friend Mike made the drop in 68-69 fender vents that are on the one CIC car he also worked on the flare molds so...

I find the work on the CIC flares wonderful,
I also believe that a builder must use wheels and tires of the same size to get the same look and well, now we are just building CIC clones not personlized customs,

I also do not like at all what CIC did with the rear duck tail or the "Stingray" script on the rear...way too modern for my taste.

Richard, I will start on your car with saying how jealous I am of your roll bar...
From what I know of Ecklers their L-88's and ZL-1's were only sold as a on the fender idea to save bodywork time, at one point they sold 2" and 4" on both, this is a confusion to some because they consider a stock c3 flare 2",
Anyone have an old ecklers catalog before they came to FL?
Now ecklers only carries the 4" ZL-1 odd since the L-88 is more popular, but I think a lot of that is like people putting lime in Corona.


In the case of my 69 above pic, it appears the kick out or mud flap is stock size but the top is larger than stock but very different looking to even a 2" flare...it wasn't big enough for me.

Your flares do not really look like Ecklers to me but rather a bit more rare, Silva did a flare that looked a lot like that as did Korky and Brunos,
You could look inside and see if the mod was just the flare or the full fender and if you can see the card Ecklers places in the resin....

Richard454

I met Brent and Josh this past summer on the Hot Rod Power Tour.

Brent's car really looks good in the flesh!!! BTW it's orange!!!

CIC's real claim to fame is the wheel is centered in the flare- not true of a lot of others.


My Flares?
It's a full fender- looked to be a yellow card- and was dated 78- I had always thought they were made by Ecklers- since I've had the car - and had never really questioned it.


The rollbar? THANKS!!! Was on the car when I bought it as well...however the original LS5 was long gone- and a 396 was in it!!!




Here's some pics-So- who do you think made them?

not a great pic-


Here's inside the back pass side-

DSCN4966 by richardhayes454, on Flickr



I have looked into Mike's Gills- but - believe it or not- want to do something a little different....

Rather than 16 egg holders- I'd like to do say 3 x 3- something like the M-B SLR- and holds less eggs- but bigger ones-

mrvette

My car is on the sites below, flares are more akin to late shark, and cover 255/50/17 in front and 275/50/17 in rear....body work done by previous owners, it was an old show car, heard comments from two sources that it used to have wicked flares, but were cut back for street use by second owner....

Denpo

Stay classy Rene..... stay classy

The13Bats

Richard,
The glassed in labels always had "Ecklers" on them,
The picture you posted with the loose strands almost looks like chop gun, hard to tell, which Ecklers didn't use,
Looking at that and the flares shape I have my doubts they are Ecklers.
Silva flares tend to have a very sharp angle from the body like yours which I have seen on a Motion car or two which isn't a surprise since Silva sold Makos through Motion he very well might have had a hand in Motions Flares.




I find the front flare on the Motion car very much like your rear flare...
With all this old school custom stuff it's almost impossible to be 100% sure on it...




Gene,
I recall your car, it's one I always liked, seems a bit blasphemous to me that a flare was "cut back" for street use....

Denpo

I prefer my hand-rolled ones:
-modest 1.5 offset
-Almost no mud flap extension
-Retain the stock fender lip
-Centered since the stock lip have been moved only laterally, not forward/backward.





Plus I'm making my own version of the fastback window, a little less slanted and that stays well within the window arches area.

The13Bats

Denpo,
I dig your flares a lot, a "baby" ZL-1 I just needed bigger for the wheels and tires I wanted to cover and the look I wanted,

What rear glass will fit that?

Denpo

Very glad you like, I know you're a Custom Vette connoisseur.
Baby ZL-1, you couldn't find better name.
The glass is a custom order, 4mm tempered.
I plan to add defrost stripes just to confuse non-Corvette people.
I'd love to troll people into believing it's a factory setup

The13Bats

You have a point they really are not that much smaller just more refined on fit, "Elite ZL-1" better...
Actually I like what you are doing a heck of a lot,
While my thing is convertibles that also limits some custom stuff, I always was a fan of the Ecklers hatch vette that ran a Monza hatchback rear glass and the Ecklers GT rear with it's slanted rear glass made all famous on Motion cars, I never liked plexi glass windows in cars.
I thought that was cheesy in my c2 convertible ht,
The defroster will come in handy but the sad fact is you will confuse a fair amount of people who think they are corvette savvy,
I think your design trumps the Ecklers/Motion slant back because you went with the lines of the car not against them....

Down the road I plan to score a less than perfect hard top and do a c2 split window or mako louvers for a whole different look when my top is on....

Denpo

Wait until I start cutting the hood....
That will be a bold move, because the stock hardtop is IMHO a perfect shape.

The13Bats

People will say the same about the rear cove window and what you did you yours,

When we mod these cars some people will decide for themselves if they like or hate it then others will hate it just because it's not bone stock no matter how nice the mod is,
In my case I agree the stock hard top is stunning I like it better than a coupe, which is why I will leave one top stock find a crappy one and do something to it,

Custom/mods are all about a single persons tastes, it might not please anyone except the builder,
I learned the hard way my tastes change too much, I have a mako kit in my shed,
about 35 years ago I thought it was the end all to be all a must have, but then again at that time I liked the Corvette Summer car,

Now I really dig the restro rod road racer look, done old school style,
I have a stock 68-69 front clip that I will make tilt but it will also "look" stock when closed, Besides a custom made hoodscoop,
I will run it most of the time but for the times when I am feeling all kid racer radical silly I will swap on the mako front clip, I have it planned out that the two clips will have the same pivot mounts and the headlight wiring will be on cannon plugs......

I expect to hear a lot..."I like your car better the OTHER way "

rene040269

Haha, sorry, but i have an '80 with the wobbly original nose and rear cone and the similarity with the Tupperware cups in my fridge is evident...

But i love the things you guys do to modify your Vette. It is a very thin line between a tastfully modification and an over-the-top monster which i have seen to much off.

The13Bats

My over the top 81,

Denpo

The soundtrack that goes with it

Postal123

If it's for your '69 I'd definitely go with the L-88 or CIC molded flares if your going after a custom street car look. If a road race look is what you're after, either those mentioned or the bolt on... I'm not a fan of the mudflap type...too '70s custom looking

The13Bats

I started that 81's work around 87 and then by 88 it was time to take it to a shop have it finished I was working long hours at the club,
The car was at the shop 8-9 montsh and came out in 89 same time as Batman hit the movie houses, so I didn't go anywhere that people didnt say "Bat..." I would stop them and in a beetlejuice voice say..."don't say the "B" word"...
But my the13bats has nothing to do with that.

I guess I'm dated in taste my 69 is getting the 4" Ecklers mud flap ZL-1 flares and I was talking in other posts why,
I love the 70's custom look, While I do like the road race look, I find some of it ugly like L-88 flares with no return, the bug eyed l-88 headlights etc,
A couple of the ZL-1 flared cars in this thread are stunning ( to me ) and look more "finished" and fit to the car than L-88 flares, my thing is "custom" first a taste of road race second,
The cic flares are nice if you want their modern version of the rear duck tail ( I dont like it ) otherwise they are still an L-88 flare.
I have a pair of rear L-88's look about like ACI's and I had not looked at them for years until today and low and behold they have deep screw dimples on them, as soon as I get a few good pictures my L-88's are up for sale.

Postal123

No probs, I somewhat assumed based on some of your other posts that you might sway that way. In my thinking, the '70s are/were all about 'custom' whereas the '60s was for the hotrodder....maybe it was the gas crunch, who knows...? The different flare styles certainly do offer a different look; that's for sure. As with this red '69 in the thread, it looks like CIC has perfected the L-88 style flare....imo that look is on par with 427 Cobra, early XKE and Ferrari GTO type of beauty.... I know you have quite a bit planned for this project. Whatever you choose, good luck...I'll be following...